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“Homeopathic” Arnica Cream?

Spurred by recent activity on a post on the Young Australian Skeptics site about the ingredients in homeopathy, I decided I would search my house for any homeopathic products my parents were sneakily keeping hidden from me. Not long after searching, I found this:

It’s a cream manufactured by a company called ‘Brauer Natural Medicines’, and claims to be a topical cream for the “temporary relief of strains, sprains, bruising and sore, aching muscles”, with a homeopathic active ingredient: 1X Arnica montana. This product struck me as a bit odd, and it would have to you already too, if you’ve ever had any experience researching the purported mechanisms of homeopathy.

The oddity comes from the fact that it claims to be homeopathic, yet has an active ingredient with a 1X dilution. People who know nothing about homeopathy are going to be rather confused at this point, so I’ll back off and explain where the disconnect begins.

Homeopathy is an alternative medicine modality developed in 1796 by a German chap named Samuel Hahnemann, based on the principles of the ‘Law of Similars’ (ie. like cures like) and the general philosophy of “dilutions make the treatment stronger” by “imprinting the substance onto the water’s structure”. An example of a homeopathic treatment to cure swelling would be to find something that caused the same symptoms, like a bee sting, grind it up, then dilute it continuously in water, one part substance, nine parts water, each time shaking the container in all three dimensions (called succussing) until the desired level of potency was reached. Homeopathic treatments for almost any illness or ailment can be easily conceived of, so long as you have a substance on hand that causes the same symptoms as the ones you want to treat.

There is something glaringly wrong with homeopathy’s method of action, and it’s evident when you take a look at the actual level of dilution most homeopathic practitioners are talking about.

Homeopathic treatments are usually ranked by a scale of dilution, either the X scale or the C scale, so for example, you could have a 4X dilution or a 7C dilution. Most “effective” dilutions, as proposed by Hahnemann himself, were to be around 30C (or 60X — the ratio between the two is 1C:2X). So, what does 30C entail?

The number before the ‘C’ on the C scale refers to the negative power of one hundred that the substance is diluted to. So, 1C is 100^-1 (or 1/​100), 2C is 100^-2 (or 1/10,000) and so on and so forth. The X scale is different, and uses negative powers of ten instead of one hundred: 1X is 10^-1 (1/​10), 2X is 10^-2 (1/​100), etc.

This means that a 30C dilution is one gram of substance per 100^30 (or 10^60) grams of water, or a one with sixty zeros after it. This is insanely dilute, and the average 30C homeopathic product statistically contains no molecules of the “active” diluted ingredient. Homeopathy of 12C or higher is basically pure water.

So how does this apply to the Arnica cream I have in my hand? Remember that this cream is a 1X homeopathic product, and 1X refers to a dilution of one part substance to nine parts water. This cream is one tenth Arnica montana, a pathetically weak treatment by any homeopathic standard of dilution potency. How the hell is this a homeopathic product? If it were, it should be almost uselessly ineffective.

But, here’s where it gets more interesting. Arnica products have been used traditionally as folk remedies for hundreds of years, and various clinical trials have shown that for some applications various species can be used as anti-​​inflammatory agents, such as the Arnica montana found in this cream. As such, when I apply this cream to a sore muscle I have, what I’m really doing is letting the pharmacological effects of the chemicals in the Arnica montana do their stuff, not healing my body through the “imprint of the Arnica on the water”. Plus, Arnica montana does not produce the symptoms that it is trying to treat, so the ‘Law of Similars’ that underlines all homeopathy does not apply in this case.

This cream is not homeopathic, no matter what the packaging is trying to say. I suspect it is a cheap trick to get a treatment that actually works branded as homeopathy so that the public will get to know the general modality by its successes, which are really the pharmacological effects of some real drugs, as compared to the magical mechanisms of real homeopathy. It’s amazing what some people will do try and get their alternative medicine sold.

About the author:

Jack Scanlan

Jack is a writer, podcaster and insect geneticist, and happens to be the President of the Young Australian Skeptics. Don’t make him choose between science, music and comedy – that’d be a terrible thing to do. Visit full profile »

Hey, good one Jack. Brauer really annoys me, for the reasons you stated.

http://seantheblogonaut.com Sean the Blogonaut

As I thought Jack its a “Big Homeopathy” conspiracy.

Dan

Very interesting. I guess its a damn good way to establish a good name for your brand. A couple of products that could work to hide the majority of products which are as useful as bulls on a tit (which i dont have to tell you add no value to a tit) ;)

Fuller

Homeopathy has no scientific grounding in the first place, so I guess that means the term can be applied fairly liberally and without much in the way of standards.

http://naontiotami.com NaonTiotami

@Fuller:

Perhaps, but remember, homeopathy is defined pretty well, and it must include certain things in its preparation. As such, only certain things can be said to be homeopathic. This cream is definitely not one of them. <.< I find it hilarious that homeopaths only say homeopathy has side effects when the treatment is “low potency”, such as 1X or 2X. ;p

Peter G

There should be a market for homeopathic wine.

Get one bottle of wine, empty it into your bathtub, fill the bathtub with water and then bottle the resulting solution.

It should be just as enjoyable (and expensive,) as the original bottle.

Sven Viking

You don’t understand homeopathy. What you have there isn’t homeopathic wine — it’s a homeopathic hangover remedy. (Except with far, far too little water. You’re going to need a lot less wine or a much bigger bathtub).

The Pope’s Understudy

I was recentally refreshed and reinvigorated during our recent infernally hot summer by drinking a glass of 30C water containing the imprint of Jesus’ baptism by John.

The few molcules that flowed of that divine H2O has done me a world of good! And all thanks to the scientific rigours of homoeopathy and, of course, the healing power of Christ.

http://none Farrell

Did you actually admit that the Arnica treatment works? Interesting…

http://reindeerflotilla.wordpress.com Luke Weston

Of course it’s entirely plausible that a plant such as Arnica, when employed in a sensible non-​​homeopathic product containing some realistic concentration of the active material, can have a beneficial pharmacological effect.

Many plants are known to be the basis of useful pharmacotherapies, not because they have some kind of magical plant healing powers, but because the plants contain certain (oh noes!) chemicals which are responsible for the useful effects.

Lorcán

I had a bruise on my cheek recently and asked in a reputable chemist if there is anything for bruising, and was told Arnica. So I bought it. I read the label on the street outside, saw the word “homeopathic” and brought it back and got my money back. I told the chemist I thought they only sold real medicines.
This Arnica was in pill form.…do we really need experiments to check the validity of homeopathic medicines ? Their “preparation”, the fact that there is not even a single molecule of the active ingredient in them and the utter lack of science behind them is surely enough for anyone to realize that any claims of effectiveness is down to placebo effects.

Sebastian

Oh mate, the real question you need to ask is, why do your parents have arnica cream? It is typically used in the bdsm scene to heal bruises and soften skin after floggings or spankings. Mum & dad you kinksters!

Lizzy12

I know this web site is for ‘skeptics’ and I’m not supporting homeopathy but you just seem to be debating semantics. Those who then claim things like arnica aren’t real medicines m, where do you think paracetamol comes from? It’s now synthetically manufactured to keep up with the West’s over consumption but it was originally found in willow bark, or penicillin isn’t a real medicine because if comes from mould. Just because it doesn’t come from a lab doesn’t necessarily void its medicinal properties.

http://www.facebook.com/julia.butler.391 Julia Butler

The blog post never claimed that only synthetic substances can have medicinal properties. You are arguing against a point that was not proposed. He also never said that arnica wasn’t a real medicine, just that it’s misleading to call this product “homeopathic”. Perhaps you think that saying “this medicine calls itself homeopathic but it doesn’t adhere to the principles of homeopathy” is “debating semantics”, but I think it’s a valid point.

Ellen

I just bought some “homeopathic” arnica cream because I couldn’t find any arnica product that didn’t state “homeopathic.” Knowing a bit about the production of such treatments, I was perplexed by the 1x distinction. I finally decided that the product wasn’t really homeopathic and actually had arnica in the cream. So I bought it.

Funny that these companies are labeling their products “homeopathic” to make sales; such labels turn me away. I don’t spend my money on “imprinted water.”

Susan

Enjoyed the article and postings. I DONT buy Brauer for that reason “homeopathic” ??? Arnica is a very useful herb used topically. As I take blood-​​thinners and bruise badly and if knocked or bumped I apply an arnica cream immediately –no bruise. No arnica cream — black and blue. Quality arnica cream can be purchased at half the price of Brauer but the suppliers don’t use the magic “homeopathic” word! lol